Rubberneck

Victim (Overall)
by Rowan-Morrison

If you circle the U.S., it’s easy to pinpoint predominant punk trends in each hemisphere; in NY you have the barking-voiced hardcore tough guys who flesh out the Victory stable, while in Southern Cali, there are the pop-punk recruitment offices known as Epitaph and Fat Wreck. Rubberneck, who’s doing time in the city of angels, has managed to slip through the cracks of the two West Coast powerhouses, although they’re stylistically at home with both. Putting his hands on the mix is none other than Ryan Greene, the man who has produced such local pit-provoking staples as NOFX, Lagwagon, and Strung Out. The result is the catchy clean-sounding offspring of the Offspring and a dozen other lyrically-coherent, non-threatening popcore projects. It’s surprising that Rubberneck is not included on the recent Godmoney soundtrack, a movie which is essentially a ’90s take on the more memorable movie Suburbia (not to be confused with the recent crapfest of the same name). Soon Pennywise, Face To Face, and Blink-182 fans will be putting Rubberneck stickers on their skateboards during lunch time and talking about how much the band punk fuckin’ rocks.